Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 10.djvu/43

 ii ax. JULY 11.19H.J NOTES AND QUERIES.

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Whatever the Queen's first feelings about it were, the Duke and Lady Cecilia, with whom he had been living for years, were speedily married, and in April of the same year the Queen conferred the title of Duchess of Inverness upon her uncle's wife. From that time the Duke gave no annoyance to the Queen ; even the sight of the young Prince sitting in a special chair next the throne at the opening of Parliament did not draw a word from him, though all his world ex- pected a protest. CLARE JERROLD. Hampton-on-Thames.

' THE TIMES ' : BANANAS (US. ix. 503). The statement of The Times as to the early importation of bananas to the United States does not strike me as quite correct. I was born in the summer of 1850 near New York, and lived in that city (save when at school in New Hampshire) till the summer of 1864, when I came to Europe. Now I distinctly recollect that at some time during those fourteen years probably in the late fifties or the early sixties bananas were very common in New York, and I used to go to market in the early morning with my father to buy them for breakfast. We often did this, so that more than " a few bunches " must have been imported to New York long before 1864. W. A. B. COOLIDGE.

LOCH CHESNEY (US. ix. 389, 433, 495). The surname Chesney still occurs in Gallo- way, but it is not common. The only person of that name mentioned in ' The County Directory ' of Scotland is " James Chesney, Kirkmagill, Stoneykirk, Wigtownshire." The mention of Stoneykirk reminds one that the name has nothing to do with stones. It is a dedication to St. Stephen (who, indeed, was stoned to death). " Steenie," being the familiar form of Stephen in Lowland Scots, became corrupted into " Staney," which being misunderstood, it was thought genteel to write, as in English, " Stoney."

HERBERT MAXWELL,

Monreith.

STUBBS'S TRADE PROTECTION AGENCY (11 S. ix. 510). Through the courtesy of Stubbs' Mercantile Offices (Stubbs, Ltd.), which is the correct title, I am enabled to inform BRADSTOW that Perry's Trade Protection Offices are the oldest of the kind in the world. Business was commenced some time towards the end of the eighteenth century, and it is believed that copies of the Gazette issued by this concern, containing notices of insolven- cies published prior to 1800, are still in existence. W. R. Perry, Ltd., is the present

style of the agency, which is carried on in Bush Lane, Cannon Street. Stubbs', Ltd., was founded in 1836 by the amalgamation of several small businesses.

CECIL CLARKE. Junior Athenaeum Club.

Of societies of this kind, one of the largest and best known is the London Association for the Protection of Trade, whose head- offices are at 66, Berners Street, W. Estab- lished in 1842, and affiliated with 112 Mutual Societies in the United Kingdom, it has a membership of nearly 50,000, and is managed by an unpaid Commercial Committee, who are elected annually by the members.

HARRY HEMS.

Fair Park, Exeter.

NAPOLEON III. AT CHISLEHURST (US. ix. 509). Camden Place, Chislehurst, became the property of Mr. N. W. J. Strode in 1860. The new owner, who had been a friend of Louis Napoleon during the latter's early sojourn in England, partially rebuilt and greatly improved the house, taking as his pattern the best French work of the eigh- teenth century.

After Sedan, Mr. Strode, on hearing that England was to be the place of refuge of the Imperial family, at once placed the house at the disposal of the Empress, and there she arrived in December, 1870, Napoleon joining her in March, 1871.

The house dates from the time of Lord Chancellor Camden, and the place had early associations with the historian William Camden. E. BASIL LUPTON.

8, Queen Square, Leeds.

I remember having read in La Lecture pour Tons (Hachette & Cie., Paris, Londres), within the past eight months, an article on Camden House, Chislehurst, in 1871, by M. Auguste Fillon, preceptor to the Prince Imperial, in which he makes mention of Mr. Strode ; but I am writing this severely from memory. EDWARD WEST.

BALNES, LALEHAM, LITTLYNGTON, AND STANES (US. ix. 508). According to Lewis, ' Topographical Diet, of England,' 1831, Balne is a township of Snaith, which latter place is seemingly called the manor. In a modern county atlas there is a railway station at Balne.

In the fifteenth century there was a manor held by a certain man named Goldington, called after him, in Lidlington or Litlington, Beds. M.A.OxoN.